Sunday, September 16, 2012

List of Philippine Vegetables

Names of vegetables in the Philippines in English and Tagalog. The glossary also includes common herbs and legumes in the Philippines and some Chinese and scientific names to help in the translation of Filipino food terms.

Strictly speaking the native Filipino alphabet does not have letters such as c or f amongst others. It was expanded in the Modern Filipino Alphabet to include these and more letters but official government guidelines encourage transliteration to the older alphabet. Since English is widely used and also an official language, adherence to the official guidelines in practice has been patchy. Recently the guidelines have been revised to be more accepting of English terms that have wide usage rather than trying to push artificial sounding transliterations. The English terms are now used even in Filipino language newspapers.

Same as English or no Tagalog equivalent

* A note on spinach: there seems to be a tendency in the Philippine context to refer to Spinacia oleracea as "Chinese spinach" to differentiate it from New Zealand spinach (Tetragonia tetragonioides). But Spinacia oleracea is what would be recognized as spinach elsewhere not Tetragonia tetragonioides. Moreover, "Chinese spinach" is more commonly recognized as a name for edible amaranth (Amaranthus tricolor, 苋菜). In the Philippines, however, the amaranth species that seems more recognized in some regions is Amaranthus spinosus.

Notes

As an Asian country, many different kinds of Asian vegetables that were not commonly seen in Western supermarkets until fairly recently are standard ingredients in Filipino cuisine. Despite this, as an archipelago separated from the main landmass of Asia, there are some Asian vegetables that aren't that common in the Philippines. Many standard vegetables were introduced by European colonists. As a tropical country many tropical fruits and vegetables are grown in the Philippines. Large plantations in Mindanao grow fruits and vegetables for export. Places like Baguio and Tagaytay on the other hand with their locations at higher elevations have cooler temperatures and are especially known for their farms' agricultural production of fresh green leafy vegetables. The Bicol Region is particularly productive when it comes to root crops.